Performance, Commentary & Portfolio

Fund Manager’s Review

Portfolio overview

Allianz Technology Trust’s Net Asset Value (NAV) total return was 8.99% in August, compared to the Dow Jones World Technology Index return of 8.16% in GBP

Global equities moved higher during the month, buoyed by the prospect of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s first rate cut this year as well as easing SinoAmerican trade tensions. Continued artificial intelligence (AI) momentum broadly led information technology stocks higher in September, driven by outsized gains in semiconductor and technology hardware names, while entertainment stocks notched only a modest advance.

Monthly relative performance versus the benchmark was aided by bottom-up stock selection, including gains in semiconductor and electronic equipment industries, as well as an off-benchmark allocation to technology-related capital markets stocks. This was offset by more conservative stock selection in interactive media & services and IT services industries.

Contributors

Our active position in Micron Technology, Inc., a leading memory and storage semiconductor company, aided results as the stock rose after posting record revenue and net income figures, fuelled by strong AI and data centre demand. We continue to hold the stock given its high level of visibility and attractive risk versus reward profile.

Similarly, shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s largest pure-play semiconductor foundry, also advanced on optimism over AI tailwinds, strong revenue growth guidance, and bullish sell-side expectations. The stock was a top-five holding at the end of the month thanks to its strong leadership position and favorable industry outlook.

Our above-benchmark exposure to Lam Research Corp., supplier of semiconductor wafer fabrication equipment, advanced as demand for memory and logic toolsets surged, leading to improving street earnings expectations. Our conviction in the stock remains high which is reflected in its active overweight allocation relative to the benchmark.

Our off-benchmark allocations to retail brokerage and crypto trading platform Robinhood Markets, Inc. and electronics manufacturing services provider Celestica Inc. also contributed to relative performance for the month.

Detractors

Our active overweight allocation to Snowflake Inc., a cloud data-platform and analytics company, which rallied on favourable earnings results at the end of August, subsequently detracted from results in September as investors digested mixed guidance and valuation concerns despite strong growth trends. We continue to hold the stock given expectations of a robust pipeline due to accelerating AI adoption.

Our off-benchmark exposure to Toast, Inc. a point-of-sale restaurant and payments provider, offset performance amid concerns of macro pressures on small businesses, margin compression, and weaker-than-expected transaction volumes. We maintained our weight in the company given its secular growth outlook and expanding market share potential.

Our position in e-commerce and cloud giant Amazon.com, Inc. detracted from results due in part to a federal trade commission (FTC) settlement and renewed regulatory risk which overshadowed its favorable top-line momentum. We continue to hold the stock in the portfolio at a moderate off-benchmark weight due to multiple long-term demand drivers.

Our avoidance of chipmaker manufacturing equipment maker ASML Holding NV, in favour of other higher alpha potential stocks in the industry, and our active exposure to microprocessor and semiconductor assembly company Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. also offset relative performance for the month.

New buys and sells 

Turnover in September was undertaken at a lower-than-normal level as the portfolio was already well-positioned from a risk versus reward perspective. We newly purchased shares of CoreWeave, Inc., a cloudbased infrastructure platform due to its unique position as a leading AI-related hyperscale and with strong demand profile. We bought Datadog, Inc., a cloud-based security monitoring and analytics platform, given our increased conviction in the company’s ability to execute their business opportunity set. We also purchased shares of social networking platform Reddit, Inc. given the company’s outsized AI integration and improved advertising potential. We funded these new buys in part via the exit of IT services provider EPAM Systems Inc. and customer relationship management platform Salesforce, Inc., amid to lacklustre near-term growth potential due to a mixed impact from AI-related applications.

Market Outlook 

Our outlook for technology stocks remains constructive given a combination of favourable industry tailwinds, robust fundamental factors and accelerating corporate earnings thanks largely to growth in AI and related applications. Recent global interest rate cuts also have provided a catalyst for investors to continue focusing on the technology sector, which with the potential for additional rate cuts in the future may provide an even more attractive backdrop. Although near-term uncertainty may preside, we maintain a positive mid-to-long-term outlook for equity markets and we continue to believe market leaders who execute well are likely to be rewarded regardless of the macroeconomic landscape.

Our focus remains on building the portfolio from a bottom-up perspective with a macro-overview. Technology remains a key enabler across almost every vertical industry and we will continue to seek stocks which solve difficult problems and can be long-term outperformers. Despite shortterm periods of higher volatility, earnings growth ultimately drives stock prices over the long term, and in our view, we are still early in the spending trend supporting this dynamic segment.

Mike Seidenberg
14 October 2025

This is no recommendation or solicitation to buy or sell any particular security. Any security mentioned above will not necessarily be comprised in the portfolio by the time this document is disclosed or at any other subsequent date.

Awards & Ratings

A ranking, a rating or an award provides no indicator of future performance and is not constant over time.